1st Prize $500--Christina Maki for poems:“Sacrifice of Minnesota Wildflowers,” “The Lady of the Lake,” “The Train Station in Windsor,” “Making Psychosis Look Easy,” and “My Old French Teacher Was a Hologram.”

FinnFest USA 2017 will recognize the first-prize winner at a September 22 convocation, and provide time for a reading of the winning entry, a two-night accommodation at the conference hotel and a free festival registration.

Lesser Mortals is the story of Aino set against the sweep of Finland's history from its days as a Grand Duchy of the Tsarist Empire through its war of independence, its fight for survival in the 1939-40 war against Soviet Russia and beyond, with a touch of intrigue and mystery. Independent minded characters, stalwart and courageous, often out of time and place people Aino's life from Finland to America and back again in search of her national identity.

About the author: Brooklyn born and bred, merchant seaman, Korean War era veteran, news reporter, Columbia graduate, teacher and insurance executive, John C. Hirsimaki lives in Sonoma, California with his wife and family. Lesser Mortals is his first novel.